SSKM Hospital is finally set to become what it was designed to be — a referral hospital for patients in need of critical or super-speciality care.

The authorities are also planning to reserve 30 per cent of the beds for below-poverty-line patients who will be treated for free. The rest will have to pay, at one-third the rate charged by leading private hospitals.

The state-run hospital’s move — the proposals were initially okayed by the health department — comes at a time when the government has made it clear that its own healthcare system is not good enough to treat its employees, who will be given the privilege of subsidised treatment at private hospitals.

It is also not clear how the free-bed scheme will beat or bypass the tout raj at SSKM.

“Swastha Bhavan official gave the initial go-ahead to SSKM’s twin proposals at a recent meeting and asked the hospital authorities to place the detailed plans,” said a health department source.

“The idea is to convert SSKM into a true referral hospital where you won’t find long queues of patients. This will help us upgrade the facilities,” said Pradip Mitra, the director of the Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research at SSKM.

“Only those patients who need super-speciality treatment or those referred by other medical colleges will be admitted here,” said Mitra.

The hospital has 1,700 beds but on an average there are 2,100 patients, with around 400 lying on floors or trolleys.

Officials said patients in need of super-speciality or critical care are often denied beds as a large number of them are occupied by those suffering from common ailments that can be treated at other state-run hospitals.

“SSKM is the only state-run hospital in Bengal with renal transplant facilities. But we cannot serve renal failure patients to our capacity as the beds are occupied by those suffering from less complicated ailments,” said a hospital official.

As for the other plan, Mitra said: “Below-poverty-line patients will receive treatment absolutely free of cost. This includes complicated surgeries such as coronary bypass and implantation of pacemakers and stents.”

Now, patients on free beds don’t pay for surgeries or other treatment but have to buy medicines and implants from outside.

“Patients on the remaining beds will have to pay for the treatment but the rate will be one-third of what private hospitals charge,” an official said. The money will be used to subsidise the treatment of poor patients.